Virgin Australia pilots fear job loss as bidders mum on details

Virgin Australia pilots are frustrated at being kept in the dark about the sale process and their own flying futures.

Australian Federation of Air Pilots vice-president George Kailis. Picture: Aaron Francis

Virgin Australia pilots are frustrated at being kept in the dark during the administration process about what the airline might look like post-sale and how many pilots will be needed.

To date, virtually no details have been provided by the two short-listed bidders, US-based companies Bain and Cyrus Capital, with regards to the size of the fleet and the workforce.

Administrator Deloitte has now given both until June 22 to lodge their final binding bids, with a decision on a sale due by June 30.

The 20-year-old carrier went into administration on April 21 with debts of $6.8bn. Although there has been speculation Virgin Australia could move to one or two aircraft-types to reduce costs, no further information had been shared with pilots.

Australian Federation of Air Pilots’ vice-president George Kailis said there was much anxiety among members about the sale process and their own flying futures. “We are very nervous that there will be pilot redundancies (but) the cards are behind held very close to the chest,” Captain Kailis said.

“A deal like this can fall through at any stage right up to the eleventh hour. There’s a saying in aviation circles: ‘I’ll believe it when I’m kicking the tyres’, and that’s certainly the case here.”

In the meantime, Captain Kailis said it was critical the federal government extended the $1500 a fortnight Jobkeeper allowance beyond September for those industries where demand was expected to return slowly.

With international flights unlikely to resume until next year, he said it was critical airlines were able to maintain their most highly skilled workers, and the JobKeeper allowance allowed them to do that. “If you made all these pilots redundant and then in 18-months time you turned around and said we want you back, your training demands are going to be even greater because they’ve been out of the system even longer,” said Captain Kailis.

Qantas pilots, through the Australian and International Pilots Association, have expressed similar views in a letter to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

“While AIPA recognises that the Australian economy cannot be sustained indefinitely by government subsidies … it urges the government to extend the JobKeeper package with a tightening of eligibility for specific industries, including aviation,” AIPA president Mark Sedgwick said.

As pilots wait out the COVID-19 crisis, Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has positioned itself to play a central role in the future of Virgin Australia, with either Bain or Cyrus as the new owner. Although Branson is the instantly recognisable public face of the brand, it is group CEO Josh Bayliss who drives the investment decisions and manages the day-to-day business.

A Virgin Group spokesman said Mr Bayliss was continuing to engage with the administrator, bidders and management team to bring Virgin Australia out of administration “in a sustainable way”. “We have been greatly heartened by the amazing public support for Virgin Australia and we are pleased that the process being run by the administrator has attracted such a high quality group of bidders committed to the revival of the airline,” he said.

Captain Kailis said no matter who bought Virgin, pilots would work constructively with them. “We’d be keen to provide some ideas on how we can help them with this training pipeline,” he said.